Nightmares
by Taylor Jean Grady
Summary: The world could go on without balance. But he couldn't go on without her.


_"Bolin! BOLIN!"_

_The terrified screams were too much for him to handle. His vision blurred, his legs gave out, he couldn't see or walk straight, but he had to keep going. He winded through twisting and turning tunnels, black as night, frantically searching for the voice that seemed so close, but could never be found._

_"Bolin! Help me! PLEASE!" She made a sound no human should ever make. They were torturing her. Her cries of pain echoed in the cave walls, piercing and penetrating what little strength he still had._

_He screamed in agony, and beat enormous dents into the cave walls as the tears started to stream down his face. He had to find her. He wouldn't leave without her._  
_"I'M COMING KORRA!"_

_He darted down another turn, and in the distance, he could see a light shining - the first light he'd seen in hours and hours of searching. This was it. he bolted towards it. He was terrified - anything could be there. Equalists, chi-blockers, even Amon himself - probably all three. But he was far more determined to rescue the Avatar, and silence her agonizing screams, than to heed his own fears._

_The light grew closer and closer. Finally, he found himself in a large room, but the light he'd seen had disappeared. There was no source of light here. Only darkness._

_There she was, in the middle, on her knees, restrained by more chi-blockers than he could count. He almost smiled - even in deseperation, it took great numbers to keep her down. That was the Korra he knew. But his heart shattered when he saw the bruises, the sunken eyes, the blood rolling down from the corner of her mouth._

_He almost fell to his knees, but he wouldn't have to anyway - his gaze lingered just a bit too long on the broken Avatar and the wires and finger jabs came flying at him. Before he could blink he was on his knees, aching hands held tightly behind his back._

_"So the Earth bending boy has come to rescue his Avatar," said a haunting voice from the shadows. He shuddered. He could hear a smirk in the voice, but he knew he'd never see the face of the one it belonged to._

_It was Amon._

_"you've wasted your time, boy," he said, emerging from the darkness. "If you wanted a chance, you should've sent your brother. He could at least get a few shots in before we took him down."_

_He wasn't sure why Mako wasn't there with him. He really didn't remember._

_"You're pathetic," Amon spat. "A sorry excuse even for a bender. So don't despair - this really won't be of much loss to you after all."_

_He stepped closer and Bolin thrashed in the restraints with surprising strength, even for a boy his size. He felt as if he wasn't in his own body - an animalistic instinct had taken over. Get away. That's the only thing he could think to try and do, and he HAD to. He just HAD to. There was no other option._

_But he couldn't._

_His terror doubled as Amon pressed his rough, ashy thumb to his forehead. Then, everything disappeared. His vision went white. He felt all the strength being sucked out of him - out of his chest, his arms, his fingers, his toes. And it was misery._

_When his vision finally returned and Amon took a step away, he felt so weak, so _empty _that he couldn't even stay up on his knees. He doubled over, exhausted. Only Korra's cries woke him from his powerless daze._

_It was as if she'd only just noticed he was there. "Bolin!" She said with an almost crazed, hopeful smile. "You're here! You're here to save me! Help me, Bolin!"_

_"Your Earthbender is powerless now, _Avatar_," he said 'Avatar' like it was a curse - or worse. Like it was a_ joke_. "No one can help you now."_

_"No, he'll do it, you'll see." She shook her head and looked at him as he lay on the floor breathing heavily, eyes gleaming with tears. The way she smiled expectantly was what did him in. "He'll kill you. HE'LL KILL ALL OF YOU! Go on, Bolin!"_

_He knew it was useless. But he obeyed._

_He tried to stand, tried to push himself up into a seated position. But with every attempt, he collapsed back onto the ground. The ground that used to answer to _him_._

_"What's wrong with you? HELP ME!" She screamed, beginning to thrash in her restraints. New tears sprang from her eyes. "HELP ME BOLIN!"_

_Amon just laughed. "At least you're here for the final act of the show," He said, a dark tone in his voice - even darker than it was normally. Every muscle in his body was begging to stand up and bend Amon into a hole in the ground. But he couldn't stand, and he'd never bend again._

_"Let her go!" He said. "Just take her bending and LET HER GO!"_

_Being the Avatar, being the keeper of balance in the world - it didn't matter to Bolin as long as Korra was safe. As long as she was still Korra, whether or not she was the Avatar didn't matter. The world could go on without balance. But he couldn't go on without _her_._

_"But can't you tell?" He said, a sly, hidden smile in his voice. "I've already done it. She is powerless. A broken, disgraced Avatar. She is nothing now." Korra just hung her head in silence._

_Bolin's tears flowed more freely than ever. "Then let us go! What more do you want? You sick BASTARD!"_

_"Oh, I _want_ nothing from either of you. But, you see, I cannot have the destroyed Avatar running around and rallying support. Alive, she can still fight, however creative her methods. Dead, however..."_

_Bolin couldn't believe what he was hearing. No, he wasn't hearing it. This wasn't happening. His entire body froze like ice._

_Amon approached Korra. She raised her head, robotically, and looked at him with a dead expression in her eyes, her mouth pressed into a hard line. She spoke in a cold, flat voice. "You didn't save me, Bolin."_

_In an instant, his body was alive, like the electric currents sparking in the hands of the Equalist spectators around him. His body filled with strength it did not have. He pulled, he thrashed, he kicked, he screamed - he begged and he pleaded. But Amon's steps continued, the clicking of his heels echoing in the dark like a demented funeral march._

_Amon wrapped his hands around Korra's neck. With one swift movement and a crack, Korra's limp body fell to the ground._

_Her lifeless, crystal blue eyes stared straight at Bolin._

* * *

Reality snapped back to him and a shrill cry echoed through the apartment, and probably the whole arena. It seemed long after he'd realized that it had all been a nightmare, he was still screaming. Mako was at his side in an instant.

"Bolin! BOLIN!" his brother's arms were around him but he couldn't stop fighting. "It's okay, bro, it was just a dream. It's okay. You can still bend. We can go spar for a bit if you want to. It's okay, Bo."

With absolutely any other nightmare, his brother's assurance would calm him. Because in any other nightmare, all he lost was his _bending_. But not this one. In this one he lost so much more. And this one could still happen. This one could still be real, someday.

No. He would never allow it.

"They'll never take her," He said through gritted teeth, staring daggers into Mako's golden eyes. His brother looked at him with feigned understanding. "I'll kill every one of them if I have to. I'll never let them take her away from me."


End file.
